Daily Meditation for January 10, 2023

In the documentary film “The Letter,” many voices call out for environmental justice. These include Pope Francis in Laudato Si: Care for Our Common Home, as well as people speaking in many languages about the devastation climate change is causing in their homelands. But the most eloquent voice is that of the Earth. The film opens with the old song, “I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter/ and make believe it came from you.” The “you” the song addresses is every person, community, organization, and country on Planet Earth. The song ends, “I’m gonna write and say I hope you’re feeling better/ and close with love the way you do.” The Earth is begging us to turn our hope and our profession of love for the natural world into concrete practices, polices, and an unbreakable commitment to halt global warming and pollution for the sake of the Earth and all its inhabitants.

By Mara Faulkner, OSB